Reading in Chi-town

Two of my favorite books are set in Chicago- Native Son by Richard Wright and The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. One of my goals while I was here was to reread both of these books. I finished Native Son last week and enjoyed it just as much as I did the first time, if not more. It's the story of Bigger Thomas, a young black man living on Chicago's South Side in the 1930s- a time when Chicago had some of the nation's strictest residential segregation laws. The 'black belt'- the only part of the city where black people were permitted to live- was run down and overcrowded. Housing shortages were severe and drove the cost of living far above what it was in other parts of the city. Essentially, these laws forced Chicago's poorest residents to live in sub-standard conditions but pay a higher price to do so. As one would expect, such oppression produced high levels of racial strife and did nothing to improve the safety and security of Chicago's residents, as it was meant to do. Native Son exposed and drew attention to the ugly nature of race relations in America in the mid 20th century. One of the recurring themes in the book is blindness- a commentary on America's inability to see race relations as they really were. It's a dark story with some shocking and unexpected twists in the plot and an ending that is sad but almost feels hopeful. Ultimately, it's a story about the real consequences of oppression, the absurdity of token charity, and the dangers of using fear as a means to control people.

I didn't reread The Devil in the White City as I had hoped to. Napoleon was reading it and left it inside a cab. I was too lazy to buy another copy so that was that. It is still one of my favorite books though and having read it made my experience in Chicago more meaningful. It's a non-fictional account of the World's Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893, and America's first serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes- who was operating in the city at the same time. It's a interesting book that tells two stories simultaneously- the first about the team of architects who created one of the most spectacular scenes in the world and the second about a man whose life revolved around luring young women off the street and killing them in a building that he had designed and built just for that purpose. It's creepy and fascinating all at the same time. Most of the sites discussed in the book no longer exist, but their architectural legacy can be seen throughout the city. In fact, the building that we've been living in was originally designed by Daniel Burnham- one of the primary architects discussed in the book.

So long Chicago...

Well, its been two months in Chicago and now it's time to move on. I've written about a lot of the things that I've enjoyed about this city, but here are a few more:

• Deep dish pizza- not my favorite crust but the over-abundance of cheese makes up for that.

• Jabarritos- a steak sandwich between two fried plantains created by Chicago's Puerto Rican community.

• The Chicago Cultural Center- a nice place to check out local art, see a freeze concert, or just hang out at the cafe. Home of the world's largest Tiffany glass dome.

• Roscoe's- we spent many a Monday night at this bar in Boy's Town for live band karaoke. Everybody gets a chance to be a rock star!

• Blue Chicago- classic Chicago blues club. The musicians looked like they were thirty or forty years past their prime, but they sounded amazing.

• Robie House- home on the south side designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. He considered it to be the cornerstone of prairie style architecture.

• The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago- houses some really cool artifacts from the ancient Mid East. I learned that in ancient Persia, bulls looked more like horses (or at least they did in sculpture form).

Seahorse riding

Buckingham Fountain may be more spectacular during the summer, but you can't ride the seahorses then.

Family time

My mom and Cheyenne came to visit last week. They were only here for two days but we were able to do so many fun things! We saw Sue- the world's largest T-Rex fossil- at the Field Museum, watched Wicked, ate deep dish pizza, and stood on a glass platform 103 stories above the city at the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). Here's the view:



Although I've been skydiving and hiked into the Grand Canyon, I am still terrified of heights- even when I'm standing on a solid surface inside a building. This picture (of my shoes) almost caused a panic attack:




We also went ice skating at Millennium Park with these adorable children:

The Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago has free admission the entire month of Chicago. I usually can't spend more than two hours in an art museum before I start getting bored so this has been really good for me because I've been able to see the entire museum in several short sessions. Here are a few highlights:

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Le Grand Jatte, Georges Seurat

Water Lilies, Claude Monet

American Gothic, Grant Wood

The Old Guitarist, Pablo Picasso

My favorite part of the Art Institute is the building itself. The older wing was built for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893 and is guarded by a pair of Lions that are often dressed in the uniforms of Chicago's professional sports teams. The Modern wing, designed by Renzo Piano, was completed in 2009. It was designed to be open with an emphasis on vertical elements that seem to float above the ground.

The Water Tower

One of the only buildings to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871:

The Tribune Tower

I checked out the Tribune Tower the other day. It's a neo-Gothic skyscraper that is the home of the Chicago Tribune and marks the beginning of the "Magnificent Mile." Also, the basement was the set for the batcave in The Dark Knight. The lower levels of the building feature rocks, bricks, and other artifacts that Tribune reporters have collected from around the world. Here are some pics of the tower and a few of the artifacts:

And then the sun came out...

Wintry Night in the Loop

Lake Street

Monument With Standing Beast

Millennuim Park

The sun finally came out, so I thought I'd get out and see the city with a fresh blanket of snow. These photos are from Millennium Park, along the lake shore, and from Grant Park along Michigan Ave.

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion- designed by Frank Gehry.

Cloud Gate- also known as "the bean"- designed by Anish Kapoor.

The bean's navel.

Reflection.

Magdalene.

Ho Ho Ho!

Chicago was teeming with drunk Santas on Saturday for the annual Santa pub crawl. Too bad I don't have a Santa costume.

Traces

The other night we saw "Traces" from the Seven Fingers- a circus company based out of Montreal. The show was stunning to say the least. It featured seven artists performing some of the craziest acrobatics I've ever seen. I was sitting next to Jackie Burns, who plays Elphaba in the national tour of Wicked, and amazes audiences nightly by how powerfully she sings "Defying Gravity." She was so blown away by "Traces" that after the show she said, "I don't even feel talented anymore." If you get a chance to see "Traces" or any other show by the Seven Fingers, do! Oh, and just for fun, I posted a video clip of Jackie singing "Defying Gravity" at the bottom of the post- decide for yourself who's more talented. The audio is terrible and you can barely see Jackie, but I think its good enough to gauge her talent.

Is that a duck?

This is the building that is directly across the street from our apartment:


A couple of days ago, Napoleon and I were noticing how the awnings look like tire tread when Napoleon said, "Is that a duck?" It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about, but then I saw it too:

I said, "Yes, that is a duck. A dead duck." I pulled out my camera to take a picture and as I was zooming in I noticed another dead duck just above that one:


In the first picture above you can see both of these ducks on the left awning and just above it. I don't know why these ducks were flying through downtown Chicago, what killed them, or how long their bodies have been lying there, but I can't help but feel a little sad for them.

Chicago!

We made it to Chicago on Monday and I'm loving it! Last night I explored the river-walk and took pictures of some of Chicago's iconic architecture.

The Wrigley Building.

The Wrigley Building with the Tribune Tower in the foreground and the Trump International in the background.

NBC Tower.

Me in a reflective ball thing.

The lower level of the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Bell on the Michigan Avenue bridge.

Vietnam War memorial.

Trump Tower. I took this picture from the rooftop of our building.

El tracks going down Wabash Avenue. This picture was also taken from our rooftop.